2013 caravan ignition

Curious, I went to replace a astrostart 624 with a compustar for a friend and found the astro had a connection to what looks like the ground[black wire] on the ignition switch. The astro side of the connection was to a black wire I beleive on the c5 connector. Looking at the module all it says is programable relays.

The issue I am having is I do not see a need for this connection in any other paperwork.

The bigger issue is when I disconnect this wire the van will start with the key, but will remain running when I remove the key. As soon as I connect this wire the van will shut down. It also appears this wire has approx. 12 volts positive on it all the time.

needless to say left the old astrostart in for now, thinking I will use the chrysler t harness with the existing fortin evo-all, hoping this will solve the issue.

Looking for some insight as this appears very strange to me as I do not see a need for this connection whatsoever.

Thank you in advance

Does the existing remote starter have a separate ground wire, screwed into some metal part of the car's interior?

If not, maybe the installer used the car's existing ground wire at the ignition switch. Many sources would advise against doing this, but I often use a factory ground wire if I can find one, and if it will make the installation neater and cleaner.

Another possibility would be that somehow the factory Chrysler ground wire was damaged during the installation, and the installer jumped his own ground onto it as a way of fixing it.

Thanks for the reply Chris, I think you are correct. After finding an astrostart install guide I think I was reading the info off the module wrong.

It still though does not make sense that if that is indeed a ground wire, which I now believe to be, why then when the wire is removed, therefore powering down the astrostart will the vehicle not shut down when you turn the key off and remove it.

Any thoughts would be great and thanks again for the reply and help

If you remove the ground wire from the remote start unit, there is no more ground for the unit which will allow 12 volts to get to pretty much every connection on that unit. This could possibly keep the engine running when you turn off the key.

That does make perfect sense.

Thank you for your insight and reply